One thing I've found to be helpful is I'll let a randomly generated playlist of music from a bunch of different genres just play and create a scene to either match or totally contradict the feel of each song. I usually get some pretty interesting ideas that way. And then another, rather odd, technique is to watch a bad movie an figure out how to fix various parts of it.
One of the key things I’ve been slowly learning is that it’s so much easier to make & stick to a story that has a strong “why.” Why would I want to write this? What am I trying to share with the world? That’s helped me in my personal & professional projects. It could be something as deep as exploring depression, or something as base as you had a vivid image in your head that you want to write out and share with people. Whatever the reason, that why is the core of your story.
When I need ideas I read. From early medieval poetry to the bestsellers of the year, from random fanfics to 19th century classics. Sometimes, all we need is to wake up our inner Tarantino and steal stuff from 1000 years ago, rewrite it in a contemporary urban setting and experiment with structure. MUCH easier said than done, tho.
Most stories often take 2 or more elements to form a great idea. Just keep note of interesting concepts and eventually some will pair well together and that should be enough to develop a well plotted story.
Just started making myself read one screenplay a day when I can! Already helping me learn a lot about the way they are formatted and constructed. Good video!
Stanley Kubrick stated in an interview once, that he watched American commercials from London, that Michelob commericals were brilliantly telling a story, in a short format. Easier than delving into too many longer films, shorts are great too.
Long-stay camping or a snow-bound log cabin in the wilderness works best for me. Although it's not very practical.. Otherwise too much modern world distraction, that just doesn't let up. Earl Stanley Gardner, as I recall, did most of his Perry Mason stories while camping in the southwest (US) desert areas.
1:33 correction: Linus Pauling is one of four individuals to have won more than one Nobel Prize (the others being Marie Curie, John Bardeen and Frederick Sanger).
Whenever I have writers block, I do random little skribbles in the corners of the pages. I don't know why but it always gets my brain working and it helps me actually put words on the page...
I feel like discernment as in being able to tell the difference between a good idea and a bad idea (and what makes them good/bad) is more important than coming up with ideas. I don't know if that can be taught, though.
Learn stuff that has nothing to do with screenwriting. I'm willing to bet that the writer for Arrival, Ted Chiang, learned about how language affects how we think and extrapolated. Larry Niven took learned a bit (understatement) about engineering and physics and conceived of the largest suspensions bridge in existence and called it Ringworld. Watch three random videos from The History Guy: History Deserves to be Remembered and see if you can avoid having an idea for a movie.
@@lonjohnson5161 Ooooh, yeah! That's really good advice! I find studying abstract art forms often lead to interesting world building or shot ideas; and philosophy is also a great idea mine as well.
Use the Bible, or historical books for ideas. One of my favorites: The Luon, the Witch and the Wasrobe by CS Lewis. And just view the local news, national events and entertainment stories. However: dont get to far fetched like the last Noah movie....way to dark1.
Yeah, the Bible has all kinds of crazy, fun stories to play with. I especially like the prophets and some of those nutty tales in judges. Also, the story structures in Genesis are really fun to repurpose (which I think David Lynch has done at least once).
WeLL, u can also take it from the point of each contributing writer's specialty when it comes to the character involved... Each person delves deep into a character that toes their special qualities as a writer (e.g. Mystery-ish writer-Secritive character, more Comedic writer- the comic relief etc) But you all flesh out the plot simultaneously though...
Good stuff! Would love to hear a few more tiny segments from Film Courage. Maybe some UA-cam shorts for when I don’t have 2.5 hours to listen intently.
Not sure if this link will work but we have a handful of Shorts posted - ua-cam.com/users/shortsbp7zZ5wEptU If this link doesn't work you might be able to access them from our homepage.
During 5th grade (about 1960/61), we learned that print media such as a newspaper, is comprised of different sections, each of which has a specific education/literacy level of reader focus. Seems to be the case with most TV screenplay material the gatekeepers allow for production. All things considered, there's probably a whole lot of amazing, original screenplay creations that never see the light of day, thanks to gatekeepers that keep content "dumbed down" and droll.. That's gotta be what's going on. Otherwise I wouldn't be at a loss for something enjoyable to watch!!
You need an idea and a legal pad and a pencil with a quiet room and some light music.... Then just start writing anything that comes to mind ....concepts that you want to explore ....scene ideas ....love story (if any) .....setting You can even have a separate section for things you need to research. if you are writing a story about a prostitute in the Old West who becomes a gunslinger after her fellow prostitutes at a brothel are gang-raped and murdered by bandits, then you need to research brothels in the old west, popular firearms from the time and thanks to UA-cam, you can even find videos on how to use them, etc. I have never sold a screenplay or published a novel but I did use a similar technique to write many papers in college that all got A- or above...plus it made the process much more enjoyable.
I have a story idea I want to sell without having to write the books. The whole thing sets it up for almost unlimited sequels. Almost unlimited topics. Who do I talk to about perhaps selling the story line?
@@hasibulislam7641 your account is too new. I wrote about 25 pages of story line, plot notes, and real world occurrences and ancient monuments and sites to put into it but then I threw it out thinking that it would lead people away from God not towards Him. I am conflicted. I don’t need to be rich. I do need to go to heaven when I die.
Live life to its fullest. Go to war, see dead people or kill someone. Go to an orphanage or hospital. The stories you pick up are out of this world. www.i-served.com
One thing I've found to be helpful is I'll let a randomly generated playlist of music from a bunch of different genres just play and create a scene to either match or totally contradict the feel of each song. I usually get some pretty interesting ideas that way. And then another, rather odd, technique is to watch a bad movie an figure out how to fix various parts of it.
Very interesting! The music technique is really cool and since I myself am also a musician, I connect with it a lot :)
One of the key things I’ve been slowly learning is that it’s so much easier to make & stick to a story that has a strong “why.” Why would I want to write this? What am I trying to share with the world? That’s helped me in my personal & professional projects. It could be something as deep as exploring depression, or something as base as you had a vivid image in your head that you want to write out and share with people. Whatever the reason, that why is the core of your story.
When I need ideas I read. From early medieval poetry to the bestsellers of the year, from random fanfics to 19th century classics. Sometimes, all we need is to wake up our inner Tarantino and steal stuff from 1000 years ago, rewrite it in a contemporary urban setting and experiment with structure. MUCH easier said than done, tho.
Most stories often take 2 or more elements to form a great idea. Just keep note of interesting concepts and eventually some will pair well together and that should be enough to develop a well plotted story.
Just started making myself read one screenplay a day when I can! Already helping me learn a lot about the way they are formatted and constructed. Good video!
Love to hear it, thanks for watching Jacob
Stanley Kubrick stated in an interview once, that he watched American commercials from London, that Michelob commericals were brilliantly telling a story, in a short format. Easier than delving into too many longer films, shorts are great too.
I'm trying to write down an Idea every evening at 10pm. I guess the more cliches I used already, the more personal and creative the ideas gonna get.
Consistency pays off in the end👍
I use music to brainstorm....I find that music is great for ideas...
Interesting concept. I never tried that idea.
Same! I had so many ideas for stories listening to Cavetown!!
Long-stay camping or a snow-bound log cabin in the wilderness works best for me. Although it's not very practical.. Otherwise too much modern world distraction, that just doesn't let up. Earl Stanley Gardner, as I recall, did most of his Perry Mason stories while camping in the southwest (US) desert areas.
That’s audible
Yes especially classical and orchestral
I like listening to Scott talk in these podcasts. He's always got great info\advice.. and his classes are fantastic.
1:33 correction:
Linus Pauling is one of four individuals to have won more than one Nobel Prize (the others being Marie Curie, John Bardeen and Frederick Sanger).
Whenever I have writers block, I do random little skribbles in the corners of the pages. I don't know why but it always gets my brain working and it helps me actually put words on the page...
I feel like discernment as in being able to tell the difference between a good idea and a bad idea (and what makes them good/bad) is more important than coming up with ideas.
I don't know if that can be taught, though.
Any brainstorming ideas you can add?
Learn stuff that has nothing to do with screenwriting. I'm willing to bet that the writer for Arrival, Ted Chiang, learned about how language affects how we think and extrapolated. Larry Niven took learned a bit (understatement) about engineering and physics and conceived of the largest suspensions bridge in existence and called it Ringworld. Watch three random videos from The History Guy: History Deserves to be Remembered and see if you can avoid having an idea for a movie.
@@lonjohnson5161 Ooooh, yeah! That's really good advice! I find studying abstract art forms often lead to interesting world building or shot ideas; and philosophy is also a great idea mine as well.
Use the Bible, or historical books for ideas.
One of my favorites: The Luon, the Witch and the Wasrobe by CS Lewis.
And just view the local news, national events and entertainment stories.
However: dont get to far fetched like the last Noah movie....way to dark1.
Thanks for posting Marcia!
Yeah, the Bible has all kinds of crazy, fun stories to play with. I especially like the prophets and some of those nutty tales in judges. Also, the story structures in Genesis are really fun to repurpose (which I think David Lynch has done at least once).
That 10 track thing is probably the best advice I've heard
WeLL, u can also take it from the point of each contributing writer's specialty when it comes to the character involved...
Each person delves deep into a character that toes their special qualities as a writer (e.g. Mystery-ish writer-Secritive character, more Comedic writer- the comic relief etc)
But you all flesh out the plot simultaneously though...
Stories are everywhere!
Excellent, thank you.
Good stuff! Would love to hear a few more tiny segments from Film Courage. Maybe some UA-cam shorts for when I don’t have 2.5 hours to listen intently.
Not sure if this link will work but we have a handful of Shorts posted - ua-cam.com/users/shortsbp7zZ5wEptU If this link doesn't work you might be able to access them from our homepage.
@@filmcourage Awesome! Once again you’ve got all the bases covered!!!! ☺️🙏🏻☺️🙏🏻
Cheers! Hopefully we can add more over time.
why is this in @queensimba's playlist 🤣
Yeahhh
During 5th grade (about 1960/61), we learned that print media such as a newspaper, is comprised of different sections, each of which has a specific education/literacy level of reader focus. Seems to be the case with most TV screenplay material the gatekeepers allow for production. All things considered, there's probably a whole lot of amazing, original screenplay creations that never see the light of day, thanks to gatekeepers that keep content "dumbed down" and droll.. That's gotta be what's going on. Otherwise I wouldn't be at a loss for something enjoyable to watch!!
But what if your idea sounds too similar to something that already exists?
Shuffle it and make it different
You need an idea and a legal pad and a pencil with a quiet room and some light music....
Then just start writing anything that comes to mind
....concepts that you want to explore
....scene ideas
....love story (if any)
.....setting
You can even have a separate section for things you need to research. if you are writing a story about a prostitute in the Old West who becomes a gunslinger after her fellow prostitutes at a brothel are gang-raped and murdered by bandits, then you need to research brothels in the old west, popular firearms from the time and thanks to UA-cam, you can even find videos on how to use them, etc.
I have never sold a screenplay or published a novel but I did use a similar technique to write many papers in college that all got A- or above...plus it made the process much more enjoyable.
Great ideas won't get u when you are stucked between 4 walls 😏
U need to explore the world
Stories cannot be invented it needs discovery
Music, Beats and 2 beer wel looking at the karakters that you have drawn
I have a movie idea but having a hard time writing a screen play
The idea for Groundhog Day was already done much better by a Japanese story/movie much earlier.
I have a story idea I want to sell without having to write the books. The whole thing sets it up for almost unlimited sequels. Almost unlimited topics. Who do I talk to about perhaps selling the story line?
sell that to me
@@hasibulislam7641 your account is too new. I wrote about 25 pages of story line, plot notes, and real world occurrences and ancient monuments and sites to put into it but then I threw it out thinking that it would lead people away from God not towards Him. I am conflicted. I don’t need to be rich. I do need to go to heaven when I die.
@@chopppacalamari ok
@@hasibulislam7641 tell me, which prophet comes back at the end of the world?
@@chopppacalamari isa alayhisalam
"Hooch" Tom Hanks
Live life to its fullest. Go to war, see dead people or kill someone. Go to an orphanage or hospital. The stories you pick up are out of this world.
www.i-served.com